How to pay for a funeral

When you have made your choices we will then provide you with an itemised written estimate of the funeral costs. If, at this stage, you would like to change anything we will help you do this, although any changes may affect the final funeral costs.

You’ll need to pay for the disbursements when you arrange the funeral. For everything else, we’ll send you an invoice about seven days after the funeral. You can pay it at the funeral home, at a bank or the post office, by cash, cheque, credit or debit card.

If there’s anything in the invoice that you don’t understand, please get in touch so we can help.

We can send the invoice to your solicitor, if you’d like. Just let us know as early as you can so that we can make a note to do that.

If you’re the person who’s taken responsibility for the funeral, you’re also responsible for paying for it. You may be able to arrange for the funeral to be paid by the person's estate rather than paying for it yourself. But if there isn’t enough money in the estate (or if you got a Social Fund grant but it was insufficient) then you would owe the rest.

If you don’t think you have the money to pay for the funeral, please let us know as soon as possible. You might be able to claim money for the funeral from the Social Fund. Click here for advice on how to make a claim.

Co-op Legal Services can provide you with free initial guidance on this. If you wish, they will also be able to guide you through the process of administrating an estate and give you clear and straightforward advice on what is involved. As well as initial free telephone guidance, they provide a home visit from an experienced probate consultant and a fixed price estate administration service that includes a dedicated probate specialist so you have one person you can turn to for help and support throughout the process. For more information visit our Legal support, Wills and Probate page.

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The Funeral Plan contract is made between you and Funeral Services Limited (30808), a registered society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 whose registered office is at 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG. VAT registered 403 3146 04. The Co-operative Funeralcare is a trading name of Funeral Services Limited. Part of The Co-operative Group.